diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 1b6efea..ce28330 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -209,15 +209,16 @@ jobs:
         env:
           NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          tag="${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/}"   # e.g. v0.6.16
-          ver="${tag#v}"                   # 0.6.16
-          # Lockstep versioning: @webclaw/mcp@X.Y.Z installs the webclaw vX.Y.Z
-          # release. Both the pinned binary tag and the npm version derive from
-          # the git tag, so no commit-back is needed and the published package
-          # always points at matching, already-uploaded release assets.
+          tag="${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/}"   # e.g. v0.6.17 (core release)
+          # Pin which prebuilt binary this launcher downloads to the just-released tag.
           sed -i -E "/const RELEASE_TAG =/ s|\"v[0-9.]+\"|\"${tag}\"|" webclaw-mcp.mjs
-          npm version "$ver" --no-git-tag-version --allow-same-version
-          echo "publishing @webclaw/mcp@${ver} pinned to ${tag}:"
+          # The launcher is versioned INDEPENDENTLY of the core release (a
+          # launcher-only fix must be shippable without a core bump). Publish the
+          # next patch above whatever is currently on npm — no commit-back needed.
+          cur="$(npm view @webclaw/mcp version 2>/dev/null || echo 0.0.0)"
+          npm version "$cur" --no-git-tag-version --allow-same-version >/dev/null
+          npm version patch --no-git-tag-version >/dev/null
+          echo "publishing @webclaw/mcp@$(node -p "require('./package.json').version") pinned to ${tag}:"
           grep -n "RELEASE_TAG =" webclaw-mcp.mjs
           npm publish --access public
 
diff --git a/packages/create-webclaw/server.json b/packages/create-webclaw/server.json
index a10cd76..3d5a3a5 100644
--- a/packages/create-webclaw/server.json
+++ b/packages/create-webclaw/server.json
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
   "name": "io.github.0xMassi/webclaw",
   "title": "webclaw",
   "description": "Turn any URL into clean markdown/JSON for AI agents. Self-hostable Firecrawl alternative.",
-  "version": "0.6.15",
+  "version": "0.6.16",
   "packages": [
     {
       "registryType": "npm",
       "identifier": "@webclaw/mcp",
-      "version": "0.6.15",
+      "version": "0.6.16",
       "transport": {
         "type": "stdio"
       }
diff --git a/packages/webclaw-mcp/package.json b/packages/webclaw-mcp/package.json
index d7ef337..76212ba 100644
--- a/packages/webclaw-mcp/package.json
+++ b/packages/webclaw-mcp/package.json
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 {
   "name": "@webclaw/mcp",
-  "version": "0.6.15",
+  "version": "0.6.16",
   "description": "Zero-install launcher for the webclaw MCP server: web extraction and anti-bot access for AI agents. Runs `npx @webclaw/mcp`.",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {
-    "webclaw-mcp": "./webclaw-mcp.mjs"
+    "webclaw-mcp-launcher": "./webclaw-mcp.mjs"
   },
   "mcpName": "io.github.0xMassi/webclaw",
   "files": [
diff --git a/packages/webclaw-mcp/webclaw-mcp.mjs b/packages/webclaw-mcp/webclaw-mcp.mjs
old mode 100644
new mode 100755